In which year did ‘Marty’ win the Academy Awards?


 



 



               ‘Marty’, the film directed by Delbert Mann, and produced by Burt Lancaster and Harold Hecht, was based on a telefilm by Paddy Chayefsky, who also wrote the screenplay. The movie offered a star making role to Ernest Borg-nine, which earned him an Oscar for Best Actor.



               ‘Marty’ was nominated for eight Academy Awards - and was awarded four - Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. It was also the shortest Best Picture winner (91 minutes). The movie also won the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the only film based on a TV drama to ever win Best Picture. And it was the second Best Picture Oscar winner to also win the Palme d’Or at Cannes – ‘The Lost Weekend’ (1945) was the first.



               The movie tells the story of Marty Pilletti who lives with his mother. At 35, he has resigned himself to a life-time of bachelorhood, while his siblings have families of their own. Everything changes when he meets Clara, a schoolteacher, who has also resigned herself to never finding love. Through each other, they find happiness.



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What makes ‘On the Waterfront’ a memorable movie in the history of the Oscars?


               ‘On the Waterfront’, directed by Elia Kazan, written by Budd Schulberg, and starring Marlon Brando in his first Academy Award winning-role, was the Oscar winner for Best Picture in 1954.



               The film is concerned with the problems of trade unionism, corruption, and racketeering. It is set on New York’s oppressive waterfront docks.



               In the film, Brando plays Terry Malloy, a former prize-fighter, now employed as a dockworker for the corrupt union boss, Johnny Friendly. One day, Malloy inadvertently participates in the murder of a dockworker who had planned to expose Mr. Friendly’s illegal activities. As he comforts the dead man’s sister Edie, Malloy meets a kindly priest. Malloy is urged to help expose Friendly’s crimes before someone else is murdered.



               ‘On the Waterfront’ won critical acclaim and commercial success, and received twelve Academy Award nominations. It won eight, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Brando, Best Supporting Actress for Saint, and Best Director for Kazan.



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What makes the movie ‘From Here to Eternity’ unique?


 



            ‘From Here to Eternity’ is a 1952 novel by James Jones, based on his experiences serving in World War II. It was adapted into a film in 1953, a miniseries in 1979, a TV series in 1980, and a musical version in 2013.



             The film version, directed by Fred Zinnemann, won eight Academy Awards out of 13 nominations, including awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. The film’s title originally comes from a quote from Rudyard Kipling’s 1892 poem ‘Gentlemen-Rankers’.



             The movie deals with the tribulations of three US Army soldiers. The movie’s story line begins in 1941, a few short months before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt is transferred to the Schofield Barracks in Honolulu. His CO, Captain Holmes, learns that Prewitt was a boxer, and tries to recruit him for the unit’s boxing club. When Prewitt refuses, Holmes decides to make the new recruit’s life a living hell.



               In 2002, ‘From Here to Eternity’ was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.




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Why the 25th Academy was Awards remarkable?


 



 



             This was the first year that the Academy Awards ceremony was televised on March 19th, 1953, on black and white NBC-TV. It took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre, California.



               The movie that won the Best Picture award was ‘The greatest Show on Earth’. It is a film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, shot in technicolour, and released by Paramount Pictures.



               ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ is a 1952 film focused on a dramatized depiction of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The plot deals with circus manager Brad Braden dealing with a number of issues facing the upcoming circus season, including dealing with the board of directors.



               The film won two Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Story, and was nominated for Best Costume Design, Best Director, and Rest Film Editing. It also won Golden Globe Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Director, and Best Motion Picture - Drama.




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What makes ‘An American in Paris’ a remarkable movie among the Academy Award winners?


               ‘An American in Paris’ by Vincente Minnelli, was a 1951 movie that won the Best Picture category at the Academy Awards. It was the second colour film to win the Best Picture Oscar, after ‘Gone with the Wind’.



               The 1950s represented a transition period for major Hollywood films, with about half of the Academy Awards victors of the decade being in technicolour, and the other half in black and white.



               ‘An American in Paris’ is more about mood, dancing, and singing, than it is about plot and character. It was also the third musical to win Best Picture.



               The film was also the first to win a Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture (comedy or musical) - a newly-created category - in the 1952 awards ceremony.



               ‘An American in Paris’ won six Academy Awards - Best Picture, Best Story and Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Costume Design. ‘An American in Paris’ was an enormous success.



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Which movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1950?


 



 



               ‘All About Eve’ won the Best Picture category in the Academy Awards of 1950. The 23rd Annual Academy Awards took place on March 29th, 1951 during a tense political climate.



               ‘All About Eve’ was the first most-nominated film with 14 bids in Oscar history. It won six Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay, both for director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design and Best Sound Recording.



               While targeting New York theatre life, the film chronicled the intermingling lives of an aging Broadway stage actress, a cynical drama critic, a young director, a playwright, a pretty but untalented actress, portrayed by Marilyn Monroe, and an aspiring and talented young actress named Eve.



               ‘All About Eve’ is the only film in Oscar history to receive four female acting nominations. It was selected in 1990 for preservation in the US National Film Registry.



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Was the Academy Award winning movie ‘All the King’s Men’ inspired from a novel?


                Robert Rossen’s 1949 movie ‘All the King’s Men’ was inspired by Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the rise and fall of a rabble-rouser Southern governor, a home-grown fascist.



               The triple Oscar-winning production features Broderick Crawford in the role of the ambitious and sometimes ruthless politician, Willie Stark.



               The main difference between the novel and the film is the reversal of the major roles: the character of the narrating newspaper reporter takes precedence over the power-hungry governor in the novel. In the film, the secondary character is the reporter, while the central character is lawyer-turned-politician Willie Stark.



               Of the film’s seven Academy Awards nominations, it won three major honours: Crawford won the Best Actor statuette, Robert Rossen as producer won the Best Picture Oscar, and Best Supporting Actress went to Mercedes Mc Cambridge (in her screen debut). The movie remains a hallmark political film with excellent performances throughout. When the film was released, it received wide acclaim.



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What makes ‘Hamlet’ unique among the movies?


               ‘Hamlet’ is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’. This movie was adapted, directed by, and starred Sir Laurence Olivier,



               ‘Hamlet’ was both the first British production and the first non-Hollywood film to be presented with the industry’s top honour - Best Picture Oscar. Olivier’s ‘Hamlet’ is the Shakespeare film that has received the most prestigious accolades, winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.



               The 1948 ‘Hamlet’ was the only film in which the leading actor had directed himself to an Oscar-winning performance, until 1998, when Roberto Benigni directed himself to an Oscar in ‘Life Is Beautiful’.



               Sir Laurence Olivier is also the only actor to win an Oscar for a Shakespearean role. ‘Hamlet’ is the only film to have won both the Golden Lion, and the Academy Award for Best Picture.



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Which film won the Best Picture category at the 20th Academy Awards?


 



               ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ was the film that won in the Best Picture category at the 20th Academy Awards in 1947.



                Darryl F. Zanuck’s production of Laura Z. Hobson’s bestselling novel of the same name, offers the anatomy of anti-Semitism, the discrimination against Jews in an entire social group.



               The movie is basically the story of a journalist who poses as a Jew to research an expose on anti-Semitism in New York City. It was nominated for eight Oscars, and won three: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Celeste Holm, and Best Director for Elia Kazan.



               A fine cast, and brilliant direction by Elia Kazan, gave the movie authenticity. The movie was controversial in its time, as was a similar film on the same subject, ‘Crossfire’, which was released the same year. For millions of people throughout the country, the movie brought an ugly issue to light.



               Twentieth Century-Fox, the producer, had done excellent promotions for the movie, to make it a sizzling one.



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Why is ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ a remarkable movie?


 



               ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ won the Best Picture in 1946 Academy Awards. It is a film directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Harold Russell.



               The movie is producer Samuel Goldwyn’s classic, significant American movie about the difficult, traumatic adjustments such as unemployment, adultery, alcoholism, and ostracism that three returning veteran servicemen experienced in the aftermath of World War II. The ironic title refers to the troubling fact that many servicemen had ‘the best years of their lives’ in wartime, not in their experiences afterwards.



               The film was the major commercial success since ‘Gone with the Wind’ of 1939. ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ won seven Academy Awards in 1946, including Best Picture, Best Director for William Wyler, Best Actor for Fredric March, Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell, Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score.



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What makes ‘The Lost Weekend’ a memorable movie?


 



               ‘The Lost Weekend’ won the Best Picture category in the 18th Academy Awards. The movie is about the life of Don - a chronic, tortured alcoholic and failed writer. Burdened with a severe case of writer’s block, he turns to alcohol for inspiration and emotional support. Wick, Don’s brother, tries to bring his sibling back from the abyss of alcoholic despair. Even the protestations of Don’s girlfriend are not enough to stop the writer’s descent into a black hole from which he may never return.



               The film’s screenplay by director Billy Wilder and screenwriting partner Charles Brackett was based on Charles R. Jackson’s 1944 best-selling novel of the same name.



               At the Academy Awards ceremony in 1945, ‘The Lost Weekend’ swept the major categories with Ray Milland winning the Best Actor award, while the film also received Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. In addition, it garnered nominations for Best Score, Best Editing, and Cinematography.



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Which movie won many Oscars at the 17th Academy Awards?


 



               ‘Going My Way’ was the 17th Academy Award winning movie in the Best Film category, 1944. ‘Going My Way’ was a musical romantic comedy. It was directed by Leo Mc Carey, and starred Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald.



               The movie is about an Irish Catholic priest named Father Charles “Chuck” O’Malley who is assigned to take over the financially failing, St. Dominic’s Church. The character O’Malley is played by the biggest box office drawing actor of the 1940’s, Bing Crosby. The elderly priest in residence is Father Fitzgibbon, played by Barry Fitzgerald. Crosby sings five songs in the film. ‘Going My Way’ was followed the next year by a sequel, ‘The Bells of St. Mary’s’.



               The movie was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning seven of the coveted statuettes. Besides Best Picture, Crosby took home the Oscar for Best Actor. Fitzgibbon, played by Barry Fitzgerald, won for Best Supporting Actor, though he was also nominated for Best Actor, losing to Crosby. The film later inspired many adaptations.



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Why is the movie ‘Casablanca’ considered a classic?


               The film that won the Best Picture Oscar at the 16th Academy Awards was ‘Casablanca’. This classic - a melodramatic story of international intrigue, romance and politics in the Nazi-occupied locale of French Morocco - is now considered one of filmdom’s best ever pictures.



               The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison’s unproduced stage play ‘Everybody Comes to Rick’s’ The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid.



               Anti-Nazi propaganda, Max Steiner’s musical score, suspense, unforgettable characters and memorable lines all contributed to make the movie a classic.



              Exceeding expectations, ‘Casablanca’ went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Curtiz was selected as Best Director, and the Epstein brothers and Koch were honoured for writing the Best Adapted Screenplay. Much of the emotional impact of the film has been attributed to the large proportion of European exiles and refugees. The film has grown in popularity. Murray Burnett called it “true yesterday, true today, true tomorrow”.



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In which year did ‘Mrs. Miniver’ win the Academy Award for the Best Picture?


 



               Director William Wyler’s ‘Mrs. Miniver’ which took home the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1942, focused on a British family in rural England trying to survive the war. The movie was adapted from the 1940 novel ‘Mrs. Miniver’ by Jan Struther.



               ‘Mrs. Miniver’ won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress. The movie was initially filmed before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour that brought the United States into World War II. Following the attack, a couple of scenes were filmed again to reflect the tough, new spirit of a nation at war.



               In 2009, the film was preserved by the US National Film Registry. The film also has a second part that released in the year 1950.



               Greer Garson’s acceptance speech as Best Actress for the movie ‘Mrs. Miniver’ ran nearly six minutes, and is generally considered to be the longest acceptance speech at an Academy Awards ceremony.



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What makes ‘How Green Was My Valley’ an excellent movie?


 



               ‘How Green Was My Valley’ (1941) is one of John Ford’s masterpieces of sentimental human drama. It is a melodramatic and nostalgic story, adapted by screenwriter Philip Dunne from Richard Llewellyn’s best-selling novel of the same name.



               The film was nominated for a total of ten awards, and walked away with five Oscars, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. Its other nominations were for Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Score and Best Sound.



              The most controversial aspect of its Best Picture and Director win was that it defeated two of the greatest pictures ever made: Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’ and John Huston’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’.



               The movie tells the story of a close-knit, hard-working Welsh coal-mining family, the Morgans, living in the heart of the South Wales Valleys during the 19th century.



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